News

Vail Valley Medical Center's Remedies Café is second on the "The Daily Meal's" list of "9 Hospitals with Food That's Worth Eating." Following is the article and a link to the slide show featuring VVMC.

When faced with the prospect of an extended hospital stay there's not much worth looking forward to if anything at all. There are the needles the shared rooms the backside-baring gowns (brr!) the sight of things you were hoping not to see and the general desire to be anywhere but there. And adding insult to injury? The uninspired seemingly cardboard-derived food.

The Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine published a 2011 study analyzing food served at more than 110 hospitals in all 50 states and determined that many hospitals were serving foods that were "high in fat cholesterol calories sugar and sodium." Many of these hospitals also have fast-food chains right in the building like Chick-fil-A and McDonald's with items such as chicken wings quesadillas with bacon country-fried steak and fried chicken on patients' menus. Although admittedly some of these choices sound more appealing than mushy meatloaf and watery Jell-O they are certainly not the nutritious well-rounded meals recovering patients require. While it's great to pique a patient's appetite there has to be a better way.

But it appears that change is a-comin' for hospitals nationwide. Many are teaming up with nutritionists and classically trained chefs to slim down dishes and revamp menus to include healthier more appealing options. Some are even classing up their cafeterias so much patients have to pay extra for it! Whether it's Stanford Hospital's hi-tech ordering system through room TV's Fauquier Hospital's local organic menu or the coffee-crusted prime rib at Cancer Treatment Centers of America it's clear that hospital food has moved on from Jell-O.

Want to see what nine hospitals serve the best food in America? View the 9 Hospitals with Food That's Worth Eating slideshow.